DAWN OF THE NEW BRAIN

IT’S ALWAYS BEEN OUR BIOLOGICAL BLACK BOX, BUT AN EXPLOSION IN NEUROSCIENCE IS FINALLY GIVING US A GLIMPSE INTO THE MYSTERIOUS MACHINE

ILLUSTRATION BY SINELAB

WHEN THINGS GO RIGHT, the brain is our most trustworthy ally, sharing all our experiences, affirming our beliefs and helping us act on our passions. The mass of soft tissue suspended beneath the skull is your soul mate— until it turns, as it often does, into a source of pain. For some, mental or cognitive distress is a temporary challenge; for others, it can be an intractable and devastating problem. And despite everything we’ve learned about the biomechanics of the human body, we’re still in kindergarten when it comes to the workings of the brain. It’s our biological black box: We can figure out what goes in and most of what comes out, but we know almost nothing of what goes on inside.